B.C. research suggests road salt linked to salmon deaths [Video]

Researchers at the University of British Columbia have found evidence suggesting high levels of road salt in B.C. streams can cause death of salmon eggs and deformities in young salmon, and they hope their results will cause cities to adopt “smarter salting practices.”

UBC zoology students Carley Winter and Clare Kilgour are three years into a five-year study on the impacts of road salt on freshwater streams in the Lower Mainland and how they affect salmon eggs and young fry.

Their preliminary research, which they’re now preparing for peer review, suggests wintertime “pulses” of salt washing into streams used by spawning salmon can have negative effects on eggs and young fry at crucial times of their development.

Kilgour said the research was spawned by concerns from communities about potential harms road salting activities can have on salmon-bearing streams.

She said after moving to B.C. from the East Coast, she became …